The Fine Line
by Theoretical-Optimist
Summary: There is a fine, fine line between friends and family. A change in the Black Family Tapestry leads Andromeda to realize who her true friends are and what family can be. Written for Round One of The Houses Competition (year two).


House: Gryffindor

Category: Themed

Prompt: Gretna Green

Word Count: 2070

Beta: Krissy and Shay

-A/N Canonically, Andromeda is the middle Black sister who was born sometime between 1951 and 1955, and would have graduated from Hogwarts between 1969 and 1973. Nymphadora Tonks was born late 1972- early 1973.

* * *

"Andromeda!"

Grudgingly, Andromeda closed her defense text. She'd asked to have the afternoon to herself. She had a brief break from Hogwarts for the Easter holidays and she needed uninterrupted time so she could prepare for her N.E.W.T.s.

"Yes, Mother?"

"Come to the tapestry room, please," commanded the deceptively sweet voice of her mother. In front of society, Druella Black nee Rosier was the prefect, aristocratic, pureblood matriarch. In reality, she was a vicious shrew who derived pleasure from the misery of others.

Squaring her shoulders, Andromeda knocked quietly on the door frame, waited to be invited in, and then bowed her head in deference to the elder witch. Like so many traditions, Andromeda thought the protocol for entering rooms in her own home was just plain ridiculous.

"You called for me, Mother?"

"Yes," her mother began with a saccharine smile. "Your Aunt Walburga noticed something curious in her tapestry room concerning you. Do you have any idea what that might be?"

A thousand thoughts shot through her mind at once. ' _Do they know that I've applied to work in St. Mungo's Dark Curses ward after graduation? No, that wouldn't show up on the damn tapestry. Does it somehow show that Rodolphus attempted to rape me last Christmas? No. If that were the case, Bella would have already killed me for it. Never mind that he had incapacitated me. If it hadn't been for the non-verbal defense spells I worked on with Ted… Oh God.'_

"Perhaps you should see for yourself."

Druella yanked sharply on Andromeda's long, curly, brown hair and threw her into the tapestry. Bracing herself at the last moment, Andromeda halted in front of her own entry.

Andromeda Black

b. March 20, 1954

Gasping, she traced a thin, golden thread that was currently weaving itself into the tapestry; descending from her own picture. In the faintest lettering, a new name was forming.

Tonks

Without thought, Andromeda's hands flew to her stomach.

"I see it's true," Druella hissed. "I might have been able to forgive consorting with Mudbloods while you are at school. My informants tell me that you've at least been discreet in your liaisons with the scum."

"Excuse me? Your informants? You've been having me followed?!"

"How else could I ensure that you would not sully The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black? And yet you've still manage to do so by conceiving a half-breed." Druella's hand flew out to deliver a sharp blow to Andromeda's chin, sending her toppling to the hard floor. "I shall deal with this." She brandished her wand in a menacing fashion, directly at Andromeda's abdomen. " _Conceptious re_ -"

With a surge of magic generated from her soul, Andromeda sent her mother flying back into the ornate tapestry. Thick ropes coiled out of thin air to contain the raving witch.

"GET OUT! GET OUT BLOOD TRAITOR SCUM! YOU ARE NOT MY DAUGHTER! YOU AND YOUR FILTHY SPAWN ARE DEAD TO US! GET OUT!"

"Gladly!" Andromeda promised as she fled from the tapestry room. Urgently, she entered her bed chamber, and grabbed a few precious belongings. Suddenly, she felt a presence in the doorway.

"'Meda?"

"I'm leaving, Cissy. Come with me. You don't have to be like them; you don't have to be filled with bigotry and hate."

Narcissa rapidly shook her head. "How could you do it? You're betrothed to Lucius! Do you have any idea how lucky you are? He will treat you like a queen. And you've thrown it all away. Just get rid of it. Then everything can all be alright again."

"I won't do that. I can't do that." She shoved the last of her personal possessions into a small trunk, shrunk it, and shoved it under her cloak. "Come with me," she pleaded once more. "We'll be okay. Just you, and me, and the baby."

"And the Mudblood."

"Don't call Ted that! He's my friend."

"You would choose your friend over your family? Your lust over your duty to our house?" Narcissa took a deep breath before continuing. "Your half-blood child over your sister?" she finished in a whisper.

Andromeda felt a sharp pain ripple through her chest. "It appears you've made that choice for me. Goodbye, Narcissa."

With that, Andromeda apparated away to a small cottage on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. She pounded on the door until it finally opened.

"'Dromeda?"

Emotionally and physically exhausted, she collapsed into Ted's arms as her whole body wracked with sobs.

* * *

Sometime around dawn, her tears had subsided and she was able to explain her sudden appearance.

Ted held her carefully, as though she were made of the finest crystal; his hands softly caressing her flat stomach.

"What do we do now?" croaked Andromeda, her throat sore from dry heaving in her misery.

"We get married," Ted replied as though the answer were obvious.

"What? No, we can't do that." Andromeda shook her head at the ludicrous idea. "We're friends."

"We're friends who are going to become parents together. You were just disowned and my parents threw me out when I got my Hogwarts letter. All we have is each other. All our baby has is us. Look, I know it's not ideal-"

"Not ideal?! We're friends! We got drunk at a quidditch party, screwed in a broom closet, and now I'm pregnant. We don't even love each other!"

"That's where you're wrong, 'Dromeda. So wrong." Ted dug a small, velvet box out of his pocket and handed it to her. Inside, she discovered a golden ring with a small pearl laying on a satiny pillow. "I wanted to do this differently. I wanted to ask to date you after we graduated. I wanted to woo you and make you fall for me. I wanted to claim your heart in the same way you've already claimed mine. My darling, Andromeda." He wiped a solitary tear that escaped down her cheek. "I'm so in love with you. I want us to be a family. Please say you'll be mine? Come with me to Gretna Green tomorrow."

Stunned, Andromeda managed to form just one word.

"Yes."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Andromeda and Ted arrived in the small village of Gretna Green on the southern edge of Scotland. Ted procured a marriage license with a quick _Confundus_ on an unsuspecting muggle and transfigured their school uniforms into somewhat appropriate wedding attire.

Andromeda tugged at the hem of her short white dress that looked like something the Muggle celebrity who everyone talked about would wear. Twiggly, perhaps?

Ted noticed her fidgeting, and laced their hands together. "We don't have to do this. I love you and I want to be there for you, but we don't have to get married today."

Andromeda attempted to shake away her nerves. "No. No, it's okay. I'm okay. I want to go through with it. I'm just scared."

"I'm scared too," Ted admitted. "But I know I love you and I'm always going to."

Andromeda melted a little at his pledge. Leaning her head onto his shoulder, she relaxed. "I just can't believe this is all happening. I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant and getting married and I haven't even graduated from Hogwarts yet. It's not how I pictured it."

"Don't tell me you were one of those little girls who played fairy princess bride. I won't believe it."

Andromeda snorted. "You'd be right about that. But I've always known how my wedding would be. My parents betrothed me to Lucius Malfoy before we could walk. I would have married in an elaborate pureblood society event after precisely six months of courting and chaperoned dates. We'd have night after night of boring sex until I gave birth to the perfect male heir. It would be rigid, stifling, and loveless. I'd have no freedom."

Ted cupped Andromeda's jaw gently and forced her eyes to meet his. "You deserve to be free, 'Dromeda. To do the things you want to do. To be happy and loved." Andromeda's eyes welled up with tears. "Oh, no. Don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry."

Andromeda wiped at her face. "They're happy tears. You're a good man, Ted Tonks."

"And you're a good woman, Andromeda soon-to-be Tonks."

She sighed in pleasure. "I like the sound of that. It fits me better than Andromeda Black ever did."

This time, Andromeda laced her fingers through Ted's and pulled him towards the little stone chapel on the hill.

"It's beautiful here. Why did you suggest it?"

Ted blushed. "I suppose I thought it would be romantic. Marriage laws have always been a little different in Scotland than in England and Wales. For centuries starcrossed muggle couples would come across the border to elope here."

"Wouldn't it have been easier to just get married in front of the Wizengamot?"

"Probably. But this is where I always hoped to marry you. I'm Muggleborn. You're the daughter of a long line of purebloods. If we aren't star-crossed, who is?"

Andromeda blinked. "What do you mean you've planned on marrying me? But I just found out I was pregnant yesterday."

"My dear, 'Dromeda." He lifted their joined hands and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. "I've known I wanted to marry you since we were first paired together in Charms class."

"But that was third year!" she sputtered.

He smiled. "I know."

"Hhhhmm," a throat cleared from behind them.

Wheeling around, Andromeda was shocked to discover her younger sister. "Cissy?"

Ted tucked Andromeda behind his body and placed a protective hand over her abdomen.

"I didn't come here to start trouble, Tonks," hissed Narcissa. "But I must speak to Andromeda."

"I believe you said everything you needed to last night!" Ted declared.

Pushing forward, Andromeda laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Ted. What do you want Narcissa?"

"I thought you'd like to know that your betrothal to Lucius has been dissolved."

"Wonderful. Anything else?" Andromeda quipped.

"He and I will wed instead."

"Oh, Cissy." Andromeda recalled an evening the previous summer when her sister had revealed her deep feelings for her Ravenclaw potions partner. "I'm so sorry."

Narcissa stood up taller, but Andromeda could see the vulnerability in her eyes. "That is the way it is - the contract must be fulfilled. It is my duty and my honor to procure a proper marriage." Ted let out a snort of derision. "You think that's funny, Mudblood?"

"No," he retorted, "I think that's pathetic."

Affronted, Narcissa spit, "I hate you."

"The feelings mutual princess."

"But I love 'Meda."

Andromeda felt her heart skip a beat.

"As do I," Ted replied, his posture relaxing.

Andromeda disengaged her hand from Ted's and held it out for Narcissa.

"I'm so sorry, 'Meda," Narcissa sniffled.

"I'm sorry too, Cissy. I don't want to lose you."

"Mother and Father have already seen to that. You've been stricken from the family line."

"I know. Ted's my family now. Ted and our child."

"Aunt Walburga blasted you off the tapestry and caused a small fire. I'm told Sirius cheered for your escape from the madness."

Andromeda smiled at that. There was a reason Sirius was her favorite cousin.

"What are you doing here Cissy? I would have found all this out eventually," Andromeda prompted, not unkindly, but anxious to uncover to motivation for Narcissa's unexpected appearance.

Narcissa closed her eyes and for a moment looked almost pained. "We may no longer be family, 'Meda, but I'll always love you. I can't be your sister. But perhaps, we could be friends." Hope bloomed in Andromeda's chest. "No one can ever know. It'll have to be a secret. "

"Just us. And Ted of course."

Narcissa's brow arched in mild disgust. "I suppose there's no way around that. But this doesn't mean I like you."

Ted snorted. "I would never presume that."

"Are you really getting married today?" asked Narcissa.

Andromeda nodded. "That's the plan."

"Wearing that?" Narcissa looked at their outfits in disgust.

Andromeda laughed. "It's terrible, isn't it?" She tugged at the hem of her dress. "I don't suppose you could help out a little. Ted tried and you know I'm hopeless with clothing spells."

"What are friends for?" Narcissa replied.


End file.
